Co-pigmented Anthocyanin Complex via Acid Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for extracting anthocyanins from natural sources often result in contaminated extracts due to residual organic solvents and require expensive or time-consuming processes, and anthocyanins are challenging to extract due to their polyphenolic structures.
Innovation Solution
The method involves extracting anthocyanins from date palm leaves by mixing the leaf powder with hydrochloric acid water, boiling to achieve co-pigmentation, filtering, refining with gelatin, and freeze-drying to produce a co-pigmented anthocyanin complex that can be used as a food colorant or antioxidant.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If organic solvents are used to extract anthocyanins from natural sources, then extraction efficiency is improved, but residual solvent contamination occurs in the extract
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the extraction parameter from organic solvent to aqueous acid solution (hydrochloric acid water), maintaining extraction efficiency while eliminating solvent contamination. The specific parameter change involves using water with about 1.08% hydrochloric acid as the extraction medium, which allows effective anthocyanin extraction without leaving harmful residues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces expensive and potentially harmful organic solvents with a cheap, safe, and environmentally friendly alternative - aqueous hydrochloric acid solution. This substitution uses a disposable, non-toxic extraction medium that can be easily removed by evaporation, leaving no harmful residues in the final product.
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional extraction methods are used for anthocyanins, then extraction process is simple, but extraction time is excessive and cost is high
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces chemical parameter changes by using aqueous hydrochloric acid solution instead of conventional organic solvents. This parameter change accelerates the extraction process significantly while maintaining simplicity, reducing extraction time from hours to minutes without complicating the overall process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical extraction methods with a chemically enhanced extraction process using acidified water. This substitution leverages chemical interactions between the acidified water and anthocyanins to accelerate extraction, replacing slow mechanical diffusion with faster chemical solvation.
3Ease of manufacture
If anthocyanins are extracted using conventional methods, then extraction process is straightforward, but separation and purification require expensive and time-consuming steps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the extraction medium to aqueous hydrochloric acid solution, which fundamentally alters the properties of the extract. This parameter change simplifies separation and purification because the aqueous extract can be easily filtered and the anthocyanins can be precipitated or concentrated without requiring complex chromatographic or distillation equipment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts anthocyanins using a method that naturally separates them from most plant matrix components. The aqueous acid extraction selectively dissolves anthocyanins while leaving behind many impurities, and subsequent simple filtration or centrifugation removes remaining solids, achieving purification without complex equipment.
4Reliability
If anthocyanins are extracted from date palm leaves, then a natural food colorant is produced, but the polyphenolic structure makes extraction difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent addresses the extraction difficulty of polyphenolic anthocyanins by changing the extraction parameter to aqueous hydrochloric acid solution. The acidification of water enhances the solubility and extractability of polyphenolic compounds by protonating functional groups, thereby facilitating their release from the plant matrix without compromising their natural structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses hydrochloric acid as an intermediary substance that mediates between the aqueous extraction medium and the polyphenolic anthocyanins. The acid acts as a bridge that enhances solubility and extraction efficiency of the polyphenolic structures without permanently altering them, allowing effective extraction while maintaining natural properties.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method effectively produces a co-pigmented anthocyanin complex that can be used as a food colorant, nutritional supplement, or antioxidant additive, offering improved extraction efficiency and reduced solvent retention, while adjusting the color hue and confirming its composition through chromatographic and spectral analyses.
Implementation Method 1
mixing the date palm leaf powder with water containing about 1.08% hydrochloric acid (100-150 g date palm leaf powder per liter) in a glass or ceramic lined reactor, and extracting anthocyanins from the date palm leaves
Implementation Method 2
extracting anthocyanins from the date palm leaves by boiling the mixture for an hour until the mixture turns red
Implementation Method 3
refining the liquid mixture by adding gelatin to remove the salt
Implementation Method 4
freeze-drying the refined liquid mixture
Data Source
AI summary
The anthocyanin synthesized from date palm may include co-pigmented anthocyanin complexes synthesized by extracting an anthocyanin from date palm leaves and reacting the anthocyanin with phenolic compounds also resulting from date palm leaf extraction in order to produce a co-pigmented anthocyanin complex. Date palm leaf powder may be mixed with water containing about 1.08% hydrochloric acid in a glass or ceramic lined reactor, and extraction may be performed by boiling the mixture for an hour or more. The color of the co-pigmented anthocyanin complex produced by this method may be adjusted by continuing the heating in half hour increments, in order to deepen the hue of the co-pigmented anthocyanin complex. The co-pigmented anthocyanin complex may be separated from the liquid mixture by first filtering the liquid mixture, refining the liquid mixture by adding gelatin to form a colloidal solution, and freeze-drying the refined liquid mixture.